Conscious Venture Lab Launches Sixth Accelerator on Virtual Platform, Mentoring 52 Startups Committed to Social Impact and High-Growth
With 52 startups comprising this year’s cohort, the Conscious Venture Lab launched the sixth iteration of its world-renowned accelerator program on October 5, 2020.
Companies chosen to participate in this year’s cohort demonstrated a commitment to addressing global and social issues in healthcare, wellness, food accessibility, equitable housing and violence prevention among many others. With 20 companies from the Baltimore region and others representing 15 states and 13 countries, 31 of the 52 companies’ founders are women, and 37 are people of color.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conscious Venture Lab team spent much of the spring and summer transforming the award-winning program to an online format. The team partnered with Annapolis based investment advisory firm MCVC Partners and their FounderTrac platform. FounderTrac is an online training and engagement tool created specifically to help startups understand and focus on the most impactful areas where alignment can propel them to scale.
The new Conscious Venture Lab, “Powered by FounderTrac” allows the program to expand its reach and support increasing numbers of deserving diverse founders. Using multiple learning modalities, the program now hosts live online sessions, academic and proprietary video and written content and connects participants directly to expanded resources. Giving these founders access to additional networks, new paths to building broad value and new prosperity in diverse communities.
When the program concludes in January 2021, the Conscious Venture Fund II - the venture capital fund associated with the Conscious Venture Lab - will invest $100,000 in up to ten companies. Investors in the fund include Guy Filippelli of Squadra Ventures and The Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation.
Conscious Venture Lab founder and Managing Director Jeff Cherry said: “This year has introduced all sorts of new challenges to startups, so the accelerator program has adapted to help companies meet them.”
Cherry, the Technical.ly 2020 Baltimore Impact Leader of the Year award winner, said the virtual platform gave the program new advantages. “We’ve actually found the remote platform has given us more flexibility to strengthen our curriculum and make it more accessible,” Cherry said. “It has allowed us to break down borders in recruiting international talent and that helps us diversify even further. We are so grateful to continue this program to help launch social impact minded, high-growth startups, with new investors joining the fund as well as the continued support of The Bisciotti Foundation.”
About the Conscious Venture Lab:
Conscious Venture Lab - launched in 2013 with support from the Howard County Economic Development Authority - is on a mission is to uncover under-represented entrepreneurial talent, build mission-driven companies and make cities more just, joyous, equitable, sustainable and prosperous for all. In 2017, Conscious Venture Lab’s parent company, The Porter Group, formed a venture capital arm - Conscious Venture Partners - and partnered with Baltimore-based consulting firm SHIFT to help entrepreneurs achieve higher levels of growth and sustainability. With the combined capabilities of this group, the Lab offers innovators and entrepreneurs access to new corporate partners, investors and world-class consulting expertise.
